The attorney for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who traveled to Syria and married three ISIS fighters, says he's confident his client will be able to return to the United States despite being branded by top American officials as a terrorist.
Swift dismissed comments by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, claiming: "None of those people matter because they don't get to say whether she's a citizen or not."
"The court will ultimately determine that."
Muthana's legal team claims she's a U.S. citizen because she was born in the United States, but American officials said she isn't, because her father was a diplomat at the time.
“She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States,” he added. “We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria.”
He added on March 4: "This is a woman who went online and tried to kill young men and women of the United States of America. She advocated for jihad, for people to drive vans across streets here in the United States and kill Americans.
"She’s not a U.S. citizen. She has no claim of U.S. citizenship. In fact, she’s a terrorist, and we shouldn’t bring back foreign terrorists to the United States of America. It’s not the right thing to do."
President Donald Trump has also said that he will not allow Muthana to come back to the United States.
Muthana's online missives have been used as evidence of the depth of her involvement in the terror group, undermining the argument forwarded by some that she was merely used as a pawn. In one, she urged Muslims in the United States: "Go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriot, Memorial etc Day parade."
In another post, she added a picture showing four passports and said: "Bonfire soon, no need for these anymore."
She said that she originally "became jihadi," which by definition is an Islamic militant. It's not clear if she participated in killing anyone.
In another interview, she added: “I’m a normal human being who has been manipulated."
She said she knows she will have to face the justice system if she returns to the United States with her young child.
Swift, her attorney, said he's not defending Muthana's actions when he advocates for her return to America.
“I’m not defending her conduct there. In fact, her conduct is indefensible,” Swift told Fox News.
However, Swift said U.S. law does not allow for banishment as punishment of a crime.
She needs to return as soon as possible to avoid “dangerous conditions,” the attorney claimed, adding that it was possible Muthana could be captured or killed by the radical Islamist terror group.
Judge Reggie Walton disagreed and said there was no evidence that Muthana would face “irreparable harm” if her case wasn’t fast-tracked.